Playing with Infographics

I'm going to teach my students how to make infographics next week.  I found a couple of great sites.  Here's one I started... (work in progress-- It doesn't make much sense yet.)

 

 
| Create infographics

Sites on Infographics:

How I Became a Teacher. A Webcomic.

My newest Stories from School blog entry answers the question of why I became a teacher.

The webcomic doesn't display very well on that blog, so I'm going to also put it here:

I forgot to post my last two entries on this blog...  about the limitations of using release time to get teachers to do good innovation and leadership work.

Teacherprefakeurism: Sound Awkward?
Teacherprefakeurism Part 2: The Story Behind the Rant

Having it All, as a Teacher

Here's my newest Stories from School blog entry.

I have more resources than I've ever had in my new teaching job.  In this entry I reflect on the implications of that a bit.

http://www.storiesfromschoolaz.org/2013/08/what-if-4-what-if-teachers-had-it-all.html

Enjoy!

Sites and Resources for Reading Endorsement AEPA

I'm gathering websites and resources to study for my AEPA reading endorsement exam (More materials available here).  I'll add more as I find them, so check back.

1. Professional Standards. 

• Here are the NBPTS standards (though they are for early-middle childhood): http://www.nbpts.org/sites/default/files/documents/certificates/nbpts-certificate-emc-lrla-standards.pdf
• The IRA also has its standards of course: http://www.reading.org/General/CurrentResearch/Standards/ProfessionalStandards.aspx
• The American Federation of Teachers put out a statement about what reading teachers should know and be able to do: http://www.aft.org/pdfs/teachers/rocketscience0304.pdf  This one is from 1999, but most of the concepts should still be valid.

2. Theoretical & Research Foundations. 

• This is a VERY cool interactive cognitive framework for learning to read, created by SEDL: http://www.sedl.org/reading/framework/welcome.swf.  This theory of adolescent readers seems like a good complement: http://www.adlit.org/article/19751/
• Center on Instruction Effective Instruction for Adolescent Struggling Readers. It has been difficult to zero in on good resources for adolescents in particular. Yay!  Lots of research meta-analysis and info about implications for practice.  If you want a brief overview of effective practice, you can skip to this doc: http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Practice%20Brief-Struggling%20Readers1.pdf
• This article "Learning to Read Words" helped me understand some of the researched approaches to learning to read words and build vocabulary. 

3. Flashcards and Study Sets. Here are some sets of flashcards various people made (I already noticed some spelling errors...):
A.

B. Then, the Reading Specialist Praxis II flashcards.

C. And these flashcards.  I stole 136 of them from someone else and have been adding and editing.


4. Study Guides for Other Tests. Here is a downloadable study guide for the Teaching Reading Praxis test:

Teaching Reading - ETS Home

powered by GoBookee.net

5.  Glossaries:

• From Florida Center for Reading http://www.fcrr.org/curriculum/glossary/glossaryOfReading.pdf
• From Education Oasis: http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/Reading/glossary_reading_terms.htm
• A glossary of adolescent literacy which looks very useful, considering that most of the resources so far focus on the younger grades.  Thanks, Adlit!  http://www.adlit.org/adlit_glossary/

6. Practice Tests & Test Questions:

• Arizona AEPA (Elementary, anyway.  Lots of overlap?)
• RICA practice questions
• Oklahoma OPTE/OSAT practice test
• TExES Reading Specialist practice questions
• Colorado's PLACE assessment
• Praxis Reading Specialist practice questions: 0300

7. Other Sites:

Big Five-- Anita Archer-- RTI

• Dr. Archer's workshop handouts from MiBLSI http://miblsi.cenmi.org/MiBLSiModel/Implementation/ElementarySchools/TierISupports/ArcherHandouts.aspx
• http://oregonreadingfirst.uoregon.edu/inst_big_five.html

Developmental Stages of Reading: Chall's six stages of reading development. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/collateral_resources/pdf/r/reading_bestpractices_assessment_red_c1_L02_tr_alookrsrch.pdf



Other Resources Recommended in Online Chats:
Beating them All (book)

Live from the Teacher Leadership Institute...

My latest Stories from School AZ blog entry, reflecting on the ideas presented yesterday at the Arizona K12 Center Teacher Leadership Institute by guest experts Dennis Shirley and Andy Hargreaves.

Enjoy!
http://www.storiesfromschoolaz.org/2013/06/a-cat-a-washing-machine-and-a-tornado.html

You Must Write Your Teacher Life

In my last Stories from School post of the year, I explain why every teacher should take time to write about teaching: http://www.storiesfromschoolaz.org/2013/05/you-must-write-your-teacher-life.html

On another note, here is why every parent should take time to put their daughter in pincurls at some point: 

The Obstinacy of "Hope"

Hope won't let go of my neck. Find out what I mean by reading my newest Stories from School blog.

http://www.storiesfromschoolaz.org/2013/05/the-obstinacy-of-hope.html

Violence to Oneself

Suicide.  The cliched territory of "troubled teens" and a horror of a topic for any writing teacher.  In the past year alone I have strengthened relationships with students over the topic, destroyed relationships with students over my mandatory reporting responsibilities, witnessed students wrestle with their proverbial and hallucinatory demons in their notebooks, peeked beneath the veil of metaphor at the will of girls to disappear,  and talked with tortured parents about the precarious lives of their children. It is a heartbreaking reality of being a teacher, but especially an English teacher, that I must encounter and directly respond to the pain of so many kids.

However, today was a new experience.  My son ran up to me when I picked my kids up at their after school program.  He said, "Today was a terrible day."  Usually this means he has misbehaved incorrigibly and "lost his day" according to his discipline plan.  He is in an Emotionally Disabled self-contained classroom, and mainstreams out into a gifted classroom.

What he meant today is that a classmate became very upset because the two of them were late to class and lost points on their sheets.  They had been kept after by the before-school program so that they could finish taking attendance.  Both boys were upset (for good reason).  Apparently, the other boy's fit escalated, and he threatened to kill himself and went out of control, snapping a handful of pencils in half and sending leads everywhere, trying to stab himself with a pencil, trying to escape the classroom, yelling, screaming.  Finally he had to be physically restrained.  My son gets to witness physical restraints on other students almost daily, though he has rarely if ever been restrained.  My son's response to me that afternoon was "He will kill himself.  One day, he will.  He's already attempted it and been hospitalized. They need to do something."  This was all said matter-of-factly in my son's "I'm a 55-year-old man in a 10-year-old's body" voice.

Many times this year I have tried to imagine what it must be like to witness this kind of violent outburst on almost a daily basis.  He also hears the students call teachers obscene names and threaten them, as well as witnessing the kids actually hit and kick teachers.  I don't like it.  But there are reasons he ended up in that room, behaviors and emotions he still doesn't seem to be able to control.  For now, the E.D. classroom seems to be the safest place for everyone, and the place where he can learn about the consequences of his choices with very clear guidelines.

At any rate, the last year has taught me this:  That we as humans are inextricably linked. When a child considers or commits suicide, it doesn't just affect that child, or that child's family. Just as my son was frightened and overwhelmed by what he witnessed today in class, I grieve for my students who struggle with the darkness and the seeming meaninglessness of life.  I grieve for them, I love them and I do what I can.  At times, a teacher's ability to impact these feelings in students feels utterly intractable, impossible.  Still, like that small feathery thing that Emily Dickinson writes about, the urge to protect, to support, to befriend are incorrigible. Those impulses ride out the storm. They don't go away. What do we do with them?  We acknowledge them and make the best decisions we can for each young person we teach or parent. Despite anything else, I must remain present, even if it means heartbreak.

The Handout Ghetto

I told my writing class that I wanted to write a hip hop song and they laughed at me.  So I wrote one.

My most recent Stories from School post is about an issue that may appear to be petty-- the lack of funds to provide any kind of color in my handouts to kids.

The overall issue of how to make info. available to students and venues for having students interact with content and skills is much larger than colored paper or a color printer, but my main point is that the materials and resources available to most of us have a hard time competing with the media and color kids encounter outside of the classroom.  Which messages will win the war for the minds of humanity?

http://www.storiesfromschoolaz.org/2013/04/can-a-girl-get-some-color.html#comments

Thanks for reading (or rapping).

My House When I Sit to Grade on Sunday

A Sunday Sampler:

I have told my children that I NEED to get grading done.  I haven't brought a lot of grading home in the past several weeks because what is the point?  I can't get it done with my husband out of town most of the time now.  But quarter grades are this week, and parents and students want to know where they stand.

Keep in mind I was required to respond to all of the below.  Keep in mind this is highly fragmented because I should be grading right now and I don't have time to write down all my response. This all began around 12.  There was more before that...

Kid: "Mom, I did it!  I did it!  I got the gold!"

Kid: [Long long explanation of the way other kid got the gold out of the leprechaun trap]

Kid: "Mom.  Look at how much money I have.  Look!  Do you wish you had all this cash?  How did I get all these 20's?  Did I cash them out?  I wonder what I should do with all these ones?...."

Kid: "Hey mom?  Could you cash anything out for these ones?"

Kid: "Mom.  Do you like to have higher bills in your wallet at once?  Isn't it easier than having all those ones?"

Kid: "Mom, do you have like a normal, plain box for my leprechaun trap?"

Kid: "Hey, mom, a shoebox would work, right?  Roxy's kennel might work, but...  Ooh! a garbage can!

Kid: "I'm going outside with the hose..."

[Me, yelling: "You don't have ay clothes on!  What are you thinking! Put on some clothes!"]

Kid: "I need underwear."

Kid: "Is it lunchtime yet?"

Kid: "Mom, can I go outside on my bike?"

Kid: "I'm bored.  Ooh! Mom! Mom! Mom! Can I go on that computer uncle Bill gave me and see if I can get it on the internet? So what do I do? Plug it into the router?  Let's see, where's a USB..."

Kid: "So I plug this into into the net here?"

Kid: [dressed and wearing my sunglasses] "Mom, is there a certain kind of soap to wash trash cans?"

Kid: "Mom, can I buy a Minecraft account?"

Kid: "I'm going outside to do something."

Kid: "But why not?"

Kid: "I'm bored!"

Kid: "Can I walk the dog around at least?"

Kid: "Where's her leash?"

...

allofasudden a kid is standing in a plastic tub full of water with the hose on in 63 degree weather and a tank top and another kid has the drill plugged in with the wire crossing the path of the wet hose and he's got another plastic tub upturned to make a planting container but it's too shallow of a tub but the tub he wants is full of water with a little girl and a dachshund in it and I ask where his original tub went from when he was shoveling clay-heavy soil into it at the back of the yard a moment ago, but he's cleaned it out and filled it with christmas decorations so that he could use the other tub which is now filled with water and a little girl and a dog.  Aftermuchyelling we sort all that out and then the holes are drilled and  kids are off to the alleyway to gather gravel.  The neighbor tells them to watch out for transients gathering scrap metal and they bring their rock-lined tubs over for my inspection.  I remind them about the extra sand outside our wall.  That's wehre they are now, but the dog's collar is off and the flimsy temporary fence is taken down and an x-wing fighter, two little boy ties, nine socks, a blanket and assorted debris and a still-half-packed backpack from Camp Cooper litter the living room and can I get up a sec to check out the sand they shoveled?  A pile of laundry goes in and the dry stuff out of the drier first and onto my bed which has no sheets because I had to wash them because the dog peed on them really massively for no particular reason earlier in the week and the bed is also piled with about two weeks of clean laundry which we keep picking over to find our outfits for the day.  I think the dog is lonely since we had to put Markey to sleep. I call to refill prescriptions, the insurance is terminated and the pharmacist wants me to set up an online account for my son because there are no customer service phone hours on the weekend and he's out of his pills that help him focus at school all week.  The dachshund just jumped into the bin filled with water, ran through the dirt, ran inside, jumped on the couch, shook herself and slunk into her kennel when I started yelling.  Meanwhile I've been trying to clear off the table so I can sit upright instead of in an easy chair and spread out my grading so the kids don't htink I'm just messing around on Facebook.  I'm hoping it sends a message, but I've been trying to grade for 3 1/2 hours and have finished absolutely nothing, though I've started several things.  The recycling pile is out of control and needs to be taken out to the bin.  I'm about to give up and do dishes, mop the floor and collapse and have a good cry.

5:15 p.m.  So much for grading this afternoon, I guess.

8:20 p.m.  Note:  The piles on the right are "to be graded." My "finished" pile is that tiny pile above my computer.  Also about 40 more essays in Googledocs.  Ay, ay, ay.

 Of course, blogging is more fun, and I'd lose my mind completely without this outlet.

Proctor Sounds Dirty

Well, it kind of does.

But I promise, this blog entry about what might change if teachers didn't have to spend their professional time proctoring exams is much more professional than its title might imply.

Enjoy my latest on Stories from School.

What if? Stories from School

What if?

Asking this question frees us from the rut of continually analyzing the failings of a system and opens up possibilities.

In my most recent Stories from School blog entry, I explore the idea of teachers having administrative assistants.  Why not?  (Okay, I know why not.  $.)

Poetry Out Loud Finds: Timely Shorter Poems

These are a few poems I've stumbled across on the Poetry Out Loud website while helping students search for poems.  They're all shorter, but interesting choices for students.

"The Bloody Sire"  by Robinson Jeffers (http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/11973)
    Violence as the source of all morals.

"Chord" by Stuart Dybek (http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/30360)
    Death as music?

"All Hallows Eve"  by Dorothea Tanning (http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/243566)
    Surprising conflation of werewolves and husbands.

"Late Echo" by John Ashberry (http://poetryoutloud.org/poem/23488)
    The necessity of writing about the same things over and over.

"Coda"  by Basil Bunting (http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/177179)
    Blind repetition of history.

"Nude Descending a Staircase" by X J Kennedy (http://poetryoutloud.org/poem/17444)
    Classic surreal ekphrasis describing Duchamp's famous painting.

Mixed Metaphors of the National Board Writing Process

The following is the speech I presented to current National Board candidates at the opening of their working retreat with the Arizona K12 Center in Tubac last weekend.  

Correction: The following is the speech I wrote.  What came out of my mouth once I started speaking had a life of its own.  I had a good time, though, and I think I helped a few people.  

Mixed Metaphors of the National Board Writing Process:  Hammering Out Your Self-Portrait.

I pursued National Board Certification for complex reasons, as I’m sure many of you did.  I was led to it by the caliber of the teachers I knew who had achieved certification. They were smart, strong and had a certain clarity in their voices when they spoke about what really matters in schools. I was a little bit intimidated by them.  I sensed they were possibly quite radical, which intrigued me.  I wanted to see if I was like that.  I kept my eye half on it for years, and finally it was time.  The stipend at our school was looking very nice after years of pay freezes, and several colleagues were talking about precandidacy.  I knew I would have a cohort, and that appealed to me.  I knew it would keep me motivated as I pressed beyond the type of feedback I got in evaluations to explore who I really am  as a teacher.

Last year, I was sitting where you are, enjoying good coffee and too many carbohydrates with my colleagues, and waiting for the day to begin. I had overpacked with too many snacks and a rolly cart full of binders and student work. I was distressed, because I had had a necessary and yet seemingly permanent falling-out with my Student B, and I had already spent about 30 hours writing about his work. As usual when I miss school, I occasionally glanced at the time and wondered whether my students were doing the work I had left for them with the substitute.

During one of the opening activities, a colleague sitting beside me surprised me when she commented that she didn’t even care about getting her certification anymore. That she felt like the process was more about the format of the writing than it was about her practice as a teacher. She sounded bitter and tired.  It was the kind of thing someone might say when they are afraid of failure; a way to cope with the pressure. I didn’t know how to respond, because I really did want the certification and was not afraid to tell everyone I knew that I wanted it. And I needed to hear that what I was doing was worthwhile. I couldn’t really deal with the idea that it had no value. I can’t remember what I said in response, but her comment really stuck with me.  And got me thinking.

I agreed with her:  The certification process was very much about the writing.

But I also disagreed with her:  Just because it was about the writing didn’t mean that it wasn’t about my teaching.  It was about both.

And I want to talk about why I feel that way. And I hope that now that you are immersed in the standards and becoming familiar with the demands of each section of the portfolio, and are realizing exactly how much work completing your portfolio will demand, I can give you encouragement that even within the confines of the portfolio guidelines, what you are doing is worthwhile and gives you an opportunity to articulate and actually create your identity as a teacher. I hope that along the way here you don’t mind me sharing some words of writing advice that rang in my mind throughout the process.  They helped me, and I hope they help you.

In writing, we not only express thoughts, but we create them.  William Stafford, a great American poet and teacher of poetry writing, says “A writer is not so much someone who has something to say as he is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things he would not have thought of if he had not started to say them.”



If you teach language arts at any level, I’m sure you are familiar with the typical steps of the writing process as they are presented in most textbooks and teaching materials.  Often, they are presented linearly:

      

When I sat down to work on my portfolio, it would sometimes take me an hour or more just to settle, to get everything in place, to check personal and school e-mail, facebook, my blog statistics, upload all my documents to my class handouts websites... In the back of my mind, the core issues of each entry bubbled, simmered, incubated.  Thinkubated. By the time I was settled, the key questions had formed in my mind.  Then it was time to get coaching or speak to a colleague.  And so.  Finally, after a snack, I would write.  As I wrote, other thoughts and reflections bubbled behind my thoughts.  I took breaks in order to blog. Then back to writing. I wrote on March 23 of last year: “I am finding this year that writing is like stirring a pot that has settled.  You can't just stir the top half of the pot with that big wooden spoon, but all the contents that have settled at the bottom come whirling around with it.” I wrote several poems during times last spring, some even inspired by the students represented in my portfolio.  

I think we need to give ourselves permission as writers to recognize all of these things as part of the writing process. Maybe writing isn’t your medium. Maybe you take breaks to sketch, to play violin, to take a run, to call your best friend. Often, the writing process is presented as a series of linear steps, when any teacher who has at all reflected on actual writing processes probably already knows that really, writing processes are recursive and sometimes chaotic, which, given the time and energy, will eventually crystallize into something finished, if you are committed and if you trust yourself.  It is a process of discovery. You have to discover your process. And it takes time, and retreats.

I encourage my students to develop metaphors of the writing process that help them to acknowledge the way it happens for them, in reality, in the real world. I couldn't find any of my photos of their posters, so I created a little glimpse of what the writing process looked like for me:

One of my favorite writers, Annie Dillard, expresses why that messy process is important.  Her metaphor is more linear than mine would be, but she always inspires me:

   “When you write, you lay out a line of words.  The line of words is a miner’s pick, a woodcarver’s gouge, a surgeon’s probe.  You wield it, and it digs a path you follow.  Soon you find yourself deep in new territory.  Is it a dead end, or have you located the real subject?  You will know tomorrow, or this time next year.
    “You make the path boldly and follow it fearfully.  You go where the path leads.  At the end of the path, you find a box canyon.  You hammer out reports, dispatch bulletins.
    “The writing has changed, in your hands, and in a twinkling, from an expression of your notions to an epistemological tool.  The new place interests you because it is not clear.  You attend.  In your humility, you lay down the words carefully, watching all the angles.  Now the earlier writing looks soft and careless.  Process is nothing; erase your tracks.  The path is not the work.  I hope your tracks have grown over; I hope birds ate the crumbs; I hope you will toss it all and not look back....

    “You write it all, discovering it at the end of the line of words. The line of words is a fiber optic, flexible as wire; it illumines the path just before its fragile tip.  You probe with it, delicate as a worm.”

Writing is a verb. Like exercise, it is an action that you have to do. Writing is discovery. Writing is creating knowledge.  And what the constraints and time limitations of National Boards gives you is the suitcase, the plot of land, the frame. It gives you a map, but you have to plan the route and follow it yourself.

What Annie Dillard says about erasing your tracks is important.  Knowing ahead of time that much of what you produce may not make its way into your portfolio sets you free to say what you need to say, to rant, to pine, to complain, to brag.  And then decide what belongs in the entry later.  The idea of erasing your tracks is important, because it takes away any excuse for writer’s block.  William Stafford is almost more famous for this bit of writing advice than he is for his poems: “Lower your standards and keep going. When it gets hard, don't stop - it is hard because you are doing something original.”

If you have already plowed through two or three entries, I would bet that you followed this advice.  If you are stuck, go easy on yourself in the beginning.  It is the only way you will find the strength to begin.  And only by beginning will you discover the process that will lead you to what you have to say.

Entry 1, the case studies of two students as readers and writers, was the hardest for me. I wrote 27 pages of narrative and reflection about one student.  The whole time in the back of my mind, I knew I would have to chisel it down to five pages.  This worried me, but I just had to keep going.  I had a lot of help, but most of that help was in the form of questions:  Is this necessary? How does this relate to the standard? Do you need all these details?  At the Biosphere retreat last year, I blogged about the process of shrinking my entry: “Chisel, chisel, shape, shape.” A friend of mine who certified the year before me, Jenni Hunt, advised me “When you get to the end, it’s like writing haiku.”  So true.  But you can’t start there.

I agonized the most over Entry One.  I started it in October, and it was my last entry to be finished.  It also ended up being my highest score.

During the last part of the process is where I began to see how what would finally emerge from the mess of grand ideas, classroom moments, ranting, obsessions and self-doubt would be a crystallized portrait of who I am as a teacher.  My portfolio would not include everything, but the tough choices I would make as I stirred the pot and chiseled away at my haikus did ultimately define me.  When I mailed that blue box, I did not feel certain about very much, but I was confident that I had taken advantage of every opportunity to immerse myself in the process, to get much-needed coaching along the way, to retreat from daily life enough to experience all the messy chaos that was necessary, and I felt in my gut that I knew exactly where my weaknesses were.  I was hugely relieved to certify, but just as validating was looking over my scores and seeing that the strengths and weaknesses that I had identified during my portfolio process almost exactly correlated with the feedback I got on my portfolio.  The requirements and guidelines may feel restrictive, but working up against those gave me both clarity about my identity as a teacher and a set of new professional goals for improvement.

The writing process is not tidy, but it brings its own rewards that cannot be had any other way.  You must give yourself the time and space to experience it.

In the end, I followed Annie Dillard’s advice and erased my tracks.  My rolly cart filled with binders, files and AZK12 folders sat in the corner of my dining room untouched from March until November.  The day I found out that I had been successful, we celebrated with drinks around our little firepit in the back yard.  On a whim, I brought out the cart, and emptied all of the burnables little by little into the flames.  

All the work, all the drafts, it was all part of the past.  At the end of the line of words was my new identity as a teacher.  What counts now is what I do with that, where it takes me. 

So, enjoy your beautiful room, your fireplace, the comforts of food and the benefits of  the best professional support team you will ever have at your disposal. And know that it is about your writing, but the writing will help to create you, if you let it.

The Tassel's NOT a Hassle

I hope I haven't put myself too far out on a limb, here, with my latest Stories from School blog entry.

I'd like to further explore the issue of whether or not I am in the classroom as a "brick in the wall" or as someone who equips students to tear down the walls, metaphorically.  This is just the beginning.

Please read, and I welcome comments and perspectives...
http://www.storiesfromschoolaz.org/2013/01/the-tassels-not-a-hassle.html

What my Students Learned from NaNoWriMo

Summary of what I'm seeing in their reflections...

• Dedication to a long-term goal and the realities of time.
• How difficult it is to create a well-crafted story.
• Daily discipline and how it can add up to amazing things.
• Giving oneself permission to explore... giving oneself the freedom to not finish the story, to drop characters, to add in surprising ideas and elements into their writing.
• Becoming involved in their novels made them realize how much fun it can be to lose oneself in one's story... they liked that feeling of immersion in the characters, plot and setting.
• Genre-bending.  Fictionalization of reality; begging, borrowing and stealing ideas and making them their own; "lectures" on relationships, etc. 
• Google Drive.  
• How conversations with friends and supporters can move us forward. 
• Things don't have to be perfect for there to be a nugget of awesomeness in there somewhere.
• Even something unfinished can have value.
• Accomplishing a long-term goal that has been hard-won feels fantastic.
• Sometimes planning leads to awesomeness.  Sometimes planning leads to frustration and stiltedness.  
• Our minds are surprisingly fertile.
• For some people, noveling is not their optimum medium of creativity.
• It is surprising what we can accomplish when we invest time and energy in our own minds.
• It feels good to tell a story that NEEDS to be told.

When I look at this list, I realize that I didn't teach most of this in the traditional sense.  We discussed some of these ideas during the process; I had lots of conversations with students.  But mostly, I feel like I offered them the space and opportunity to experience this learning for themselves.  That's the beauty of NaNoWriMo:  when we trust our students' minds, we see that indeed they can discover their own paths.  I provide time, structure ,goal-setting, strategies... they provide the rest.  They are not empty vessels.  I wish there was time in all my classes to take them through NaNoWriMo.

What I Learned This Week(ish) #5

1. Seneca, The Epistles  Good stuff.  It just keeps going and going...  I think if I was Lucilius I would have stopped reading a long time ago, but...

....XV

It is clear to you, I am sure, Lucilius, that no man can live a happy life, or even a supportable life, without the study of wisdom; you know also that a happy life is reached when our wisdom is brought to completion, but that life is at least endurable even when our wisdom is only begun.  This idea, however, clear though it is, must be strengthened and implanted more deeply by daily reflection; it is more important for you to keep the resolutions you have already made than to go on and make noble ones.  You must persevere, must develop new strength by continuous study, until that which is only a good inclination becomes a good settled purpose.  Hence you no longer need to come to me with much talk and protestations; I know that you

---

EPISTLE XVI.

have made great progress.  I understand the feelings which prompt your words; they are not feigned or specious words.  Nevertheless I shall tell you what I think, - that at present I have hopes for you, but not yet perfect trust.  And I wish that you would adopt the same attitude towards yourself; there is no reason why you should put confidence in yourself too quickly and readily.  Examine yourself; scrutinize and observe yourself in divers ways; but mark, before all else, whether it is in philosophy or merely in life itself/a that you have made progress.  Philosophy is no trick to catch the public; it is not devised for show.  It is a matter, not of words, but of facts.  It is not pursued in order that the day may yield some amusement before it is spent, or that our leisure may be relieved of a tedium that irks us.  It moulds and constructs the soul; it orders our life, guides our conduct, shows us what we should do and what we should leave undone; it sits at the helm and directs our course as we waver+amid uncertainties+.

~XXXIV+ ON A PROMISING PUPIL

    I grow in spirit and leap for joy and shake off my years and my blood runs warm again, whenever I understand, from your actions and your letters, how far you have outdone yourself; for as to the ordinary man, you left him in the rear long ago.  If the farmer is pleased when his tree develops so that it bears fruit, if the shepherd takes pleasure in the increase of his flocks, if every man regards his pupil as though he discerned in him his own early manhood, - what, then, do you think are the feelings of those who have trained a mind and moulded a young idea, when they see it suddenly grown to maturity?

     I claim you for myself; you are my handiwork. When I saw your abilities, I laid my hand upon you,/a I exhorted you, I applied the goad and did not permit you to march lazily, but roused you continually.  And now I do the same; but by this time I am cheering on one who is in the race and so in turn cheers me on.

The last part is quite a heavy claim... quite a heavy burden, ownership. Isn't it?

2. Open Culture has a blog entry with a list of animated literature and books online, including Shakespeare, Dickinson... Neil Gaiman's weird Christmas poem.  Lots and lots of wild, amazing stuff.  I bookmarked it.

3.  The word "shambolic", an informal, mostly British term originating in the 1970's, means "chaotic, mismanaged or disorganized."  I'm thinking... I need to apply this word as often as possible from now on.

4. The United States Department of Education RESPECT project.  I was invited to participate in a roundtable discussion about this vision statement (in draft form-- a very live document).  Although I am a little hesitant to hope that policymakers in Arizona would sincerely and creatively find ways to implement this ambitious vision, I really feel like the changes it would make to schools would be good for teachers, parents, students and administrators, and would make school a more satisfying experience for all. Download and read the document-- it doesn't take long to understand the general changes being proposed in the way that the teaching profession is envisioned.


Damn, I am ready for winter break.

Why Teacher Salary Schedules are Fictional

Here is my newest Stories from School AZ blog entry (http://www.storiesfromschoolaz.org/2012/12/teacher-pay-the-opaque-fiction-of-salary-schedules.html)

I focus on inequities in teacher pay that make the publicly published salary schedules into works of fiction.

We were asked to try to find juicy topics.  I think this one is juicy.  My worry is that it will appear to target my current district for criticism.  I use my district as an example, but honestly, this happens all over the place, at least in Arizona.

Enjoy!

Accepting Defeat: A Teachable NaNoWriMo Moment

I am planning a lesson on accepting defeat.

Part of teaching for creativity is helping students learn how to deal with failure, and it looks like I'll have a chance to teach them firsthand.

Last year, I tried NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for the first time.  It was an intense ride, and thrilling to take on that challenge alongside my students.  For some reason, I latched onto my 50,000 word goal for the month, and wrote consistently almost every day of the month, finishing just in time and earning my button and winner's web badge.  At the end, I wasn't at all satisfied with my novel, but I was happy with myself for my achievement.

This year, I just haven't worked myself up into the frenzy.  Perhaps it is the anti-anxiety medication.  The little edge that anxiety gives me can a very useful little edge, albeit with plenty of drawbacks.

At any rate, I've been writing.  I should be able to reach 25,000 words, which is still a lot.  But I won't win.  There's no way.  I only see my husband on weekends; during the week I've been having to leave work early to deal with doctors' appointments, kids getting sick at school, cancellations of their other rides home after school... it seems like I can't get enough time at school to do what I need to do at school.

And at home?  I don't have my husband to rely on to interact with the kids at all.  So if I sit and write, they either play or watch TV with no attention.  It feels extra selfish.  By the time they're in bed, I'm pooped (not to mention way behind at work-- more than usual).

On weekends, I owe it to the man I married to save some of myself for him:  tidy up, do things as a family, give backrubs, receive backrubs, that kind of thing.  I can sneak away for a little bit of time, but... I've lost so much time at school during the week that I have to spend some time planning, grading.  And my lowered anxiety level has left me less willing to get up early in the morning and write. Last year I insisted on the writing time.  This year I've been more compromising.

And I've compromised my novel.

So... for my students, here are my steps in accepting defeat, and the lessons I can learn from it.

Steps:
1. Explore whether there is any way to meet my goal.  Realistically:  What would it take?
2. Assess: Am I willing and able to do what it will take?  Be honest with myself and others.
3. If so, then GO FOR IT.
4. If not, assess: What do I really want out of this process? Can I get some of what I want with the time and energy I have left?
5. Set new goal I can live with. One that is still challenging and offers me some success I can recognize.
6. Work to achieve my new, compromised goal.
7. Forgive myself.  Every day is a new chance to kick ass, after all.
8. Acknowledge what I did manage to achieve.
9. Analyze what I can do next time to meet a higher, more worthy goal.  Or, assess whether my priorities are really elsewhere.

Lessons:
Honesty is key when we set goals.  We need to be honest about our motivation, what it will really require, our level of intensity and our commitment to meet the goal.

Challenging ourselves to amazingness may not result in the exact outcome we had planned, but will probably lead to more amazingness than if we hadn't tried at all.  (I will have 25,000 words of a novel after all, and my concept is more cohesive than last year.)

Accepting defeat can free up our energy for other pursuits that turn out to be either more important or simply more urgent.  Accepting defeat lets us look toward the future, dwell in possibility and not the defeat itself.

When we accept defeat, we must also accept the consequences of not meeting our goal.  I'm certain that my inability to meet my goal will affect my relationship with my students who pushed themselves to meet their goal.  I have a student going for the 50,000 word mark.  What do I teach him by not meeting mine?  Still, I can't avoid it now.  There may be negative consequences, and I have to live with that. I'm not willing to be dishonest with my students just to preserve a veneer of amazingness.  The amazingness has to be genuine.  It's the same way when students don't earn the grades they hope to get in my class.  If they choose to cheat, lie or plagiarize, then I lose all respect for them.  A respectable C is  just that, a C, but respectable.

I am a National Board Certified Teacher!

It's a big day for me and two others in my English department. We are NBCT's!